


underestimate me

by relationshipcrimes



Series: prompt fics 1 [4]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Gen, Mild Sexual Harrassment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:21:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22950028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/relationshipcrimes/pseuds/relationshipcrimes
Summary: Ann starts modeling more frequently after the events of the game. When a coworker tries to put his hand up her skirt, she decides to nearly break his hand.
Series: prompt fics 1 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1649317
Comments: 9
Kudos: 221





	underestimate me

Ann Takamaki might be a normal girl, but Panther can do anything. She can burn her enemies from the inside out, carry her team, do literal backflips, scale buildings, shoot an enemy through eye at a hundred paces, steal treasure, steal the hearts of wicked old men, and change the world.

The summer after Mementos collapses and Panther disappears with it, Ann’s modeling partner tries to put his hand up her skirt in the middle of a shoot, and for one whole, entire second, Ann actually considers just trying to grin and bear it.

Then she grabs his hand and twists it until he screams.

“That _hurts_!” he yelps, when she lets up. “What the _fuck_ did you do that for?!”

“What did I--you _know_ what for, asshole!” she yells right back. Their agents are fluttering around the sidelines of the shoot, trying to calm them both down; the male model’s holding his hand like she tore it off, because he’s a wuss and a coward. “You know what you did! You saw it, too, didn’t you?” she says, rounding on the onlookers, the assorted agents, photographers, magazine coordinators, so on and so forth.

There’s a collective shuffling. They all totally saw, but nobody says anything, because their jobs is to make sure that photos of pretty people get taken and currently one of their pretty people is hopping mad and completely unphotogenic. The other pretty person might be crying because a girl almost ripped his hand off. The photographer heaves a great big sigh and looks pointedly at his watch.

“Takamaki-chan,” says Ann’s agent, Takaeshi. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

So she lets him pull her aside but does _not_ let him start on the bullshit that she knows he’s about to say: “You try and sweep this under the rug, I’ll tell everyone who’ll listen and come back here with a lawyer,” Ann hisses.

“You wouldn’t,” says Takaeshi.

“You want to bet?” says Ann. “Go ahead. Underestimate me. That’ll be fun.”

Takaeshi looks like he feels like he isn’t paid enough to put up with dealing with the fallout of some creep sexually harassing his model, as if _Ann_ is in _any_ way paid enough to deal with the _actual_ sexual harassment.

“Fine, then. We’ll have to cancel the shoot,” says Takaeshi sourly. “And we won’t be able to book a shoot with any model from that agency for at least a year because of you. Are you happy?”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be doing business with any agency that hires skeeves like that in the first place,” says Ann hotly.

“They’re all like that. It runs in the industry, Takamaki-chan. And now the chances are that the photographer won’t want to work with you, either. You see? You keep up like this, and you’re going to burn all your bridges in this industry, and soon enough nobody will hire you.”

“I know that,” says Ann. She doesn’t like the way he talks to her like she’s a stupid child. “Sorry, but I won’t back down.”

“Then maybe modeling isn’t for you,” says Takaeshi. “Because this is how modeling is, and either you’ve got to change your smart-ass attitude, or you’re never going to have a moment’s peace until you’ve changed the entire industry.”

Ann chews at her lip. Takaeshi flips to another page of his clipboard, and then says, “You can apologize to your modeling partner when you’re ready,” and heads over to make amends with the photographer.

Sometimes, Ann thinks a lot about those old TV shows she used to love, with the strong female villains who ground men beneath their heels. There was always a moment where the hero of those shows had to say: Well, it’s time to grow up now, and be like the rest of the adults, and stop being such a squeaky wheel, and accept that this is the way things are. Maybe that’s what they were supposed to do when Mementos collapsed: Hang up their masks, play a little nicer, go to school, get a day job. Panther could’ve obliterated that modeling creep, maybe had a few stern words with him in Mementos, but Panther’s gone. It’s just Ann, and the fact that she totally won’t get paid if she walks out, and also her agency is going to _hate_ her if she keeps blowing their photoshoots even if she’s totally, completely right.

And she’ll have to explain what happened to Shiho. Or lie about it, if she shuts her mouth and puts her head down. Because there’s no way she could tell Shiho that she _let_ this sort of harassment happen all over again.

That’s it: Ann shoves her minimal modeling supplies into her purse and snaps it shut. “Takamaki-chan?” Takaeshi calls, when he realizes that she’s walking _away_ from the shoot, rather than back to it. “Hey! Takamaki-chan!” But she doesn’t turn around.

Panther might be gone, but Ann is still here, and so is Shiho. And Ryuji, and Akira, and all the rest of the Thieves, and by god they’re going to have some things to say about this whole event. She can’t _wait_ for the look of fury on Makoto’s and Haru’s faces when she tells them what happened. Not to mention Sae--Ann wasn’t joking about getting a lawyer to, at the _least_ , have some strong words with her agency.

Yeah, Panther might be gone, but Ann is still here, and she’s not wrong, and she’s not some average girl. She’s done underestimating herself. If she’ll have to change the whole industry to make sure this never happens again, then she won’t let anyone stand in her way.

**Author's Note:**

> twitter [@p5crimes](https://twitter.com/p5crimes)  
> tumblr [@akechicrimes](http://akechicrimes.tumblr.com)


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